Whales and dolphins have a tool called echolocation, a sonar which allows them to "see" their prey, even it's internal workings! Noise pollution in the water has a significant effect on whales ability to navigate, hunt, locate their pods, and reproduce.

Echolocating animals have two ears positioned slightly apart. The echoes returning to the two ears arrive at different times and at different loudness levels, depending on the position of the object generating the echoes. The time and loudness differences are used by the animals to perceive direction. With echolocation the bat or other animal can see not only where it's going but can also see how big another animal is, what kind of animal it is, and other features as well.

Many modern submarines use their own sonar a low and mid-frequency sonar is so deafening the pressure waves affect animals on the cellular level, causing the equivalent of "the bends" or decompression sickness. For animals with echolocation this causes sonar function to fail and leaves these animals blind, if they're lucky. What often results is massive beachings (update: court blocks sonar 7/6/06)

Augustus Caesar became the emperor of Rome in 27 BC, and he ruled the empire for over forty years. This period of history became known as the time of the "Great Roman Peace" ... In A.D. 80 the Colosseum was finished where battles were reenacted, where gladiators fought, and where crowds were entertained by savage violence entertained by the spectacle of Christians being eaten by lions.

Sometime between 407-411 Constantine III legalized Christianity. Check out this list, it was easier than you think to be emperor, the hard part is staying emperor. http://www.roman-emperors.org/impindex.htm

n AD 404 a tragic event finally put an end to the gladiators. A Christian monk named Telemachus entered the arena in Rome and tried to separate two combatants. The crowd went berserk, climbed over the walls into the arena and tore the monk limb from limb. The Emperor Honorius permanently banned all gladiator contests.

The Romans were also known to sentencing Christians to death by play. In a live play, when it came time for a death scene, the real actor would be replaced by the accused and the execution would be performed live on stage.
yikes

A father Emperor penguin withstands the Antarctic cold for 60 days or more to protect his eggs, which he keeps on his feet, covered with a feathered flap. During this entire time he doesn't eat a thing. Most father penguins lose about 25 pounds while they wait for their babies to hatch. Afterward, they feed the chicks a special liquid from their throats. When the mother penguins return to care for the young, the fathers go to sea to eat and rest.

The darkest time of year at the North Pole is the Winter Solstice, approximately December 21. There has been no sunlight or even twilight since early October. The darkness lasts until the beginning of dawn in early March
Now you can see what's happening in the arctic at http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/gallery_np.html

On January 16, 1919 the 18th Amendment, authorizing Prohibition, went into effect in the United States. The home of the free took a beating that day, and it opened the door for such mobster's as Al Capone to make $100,000,000 (100 million dollars) a year at a time when most folks made $1,000 a year.